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Runway was closed on orders of secy to CAA DG: says ATCO

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Air Traffic Control Officer Nadeem Akber said on Wednesday that he had closed down the runway of the Karachi Airport on October 12 on the orders of the secretary to director general of the Civil Aviation Authority.

He was recording his evidence before Rehmat Hussain Jafferi, Judge of the Anti Terrorism Court, in the October 12 plane conspiracy case. All the seven accused in the case, including the main accused former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, were present in the court.

The witness said that Tower Controller Asif had received a telephone call from the secretary to DG CAA, Wing Commander Ahmed Farooq, asking him to immediately close the runway for all arrivals and departures of flights.

He said that after some time Yousuf Abbas, chief operating officer, came to him and asked if the orders had been complied with. "To which I answered that the runway had been closed and fire vehicle were on the runway.

Akber said that he briefed Yousuf Abbas on the orders that were given to him by Wing Commander Farooq and said though the runway was blocked, it was operational for all purposes."

The witness said that Abbas received a call in his (Akber's) presence and reiterated that the runway was to be kept closed till further orders, and if someone asked no reason was to be given.

He said at about 18.40 hours, a telephone call was received. Gen. Iftikhar was on the line. before any discussion could take place, the line dropped. After a few minutes the call was there again and Gen. Iftikhar asked about the expected time of arrival of the flight from Sri Lanka. The witness said that he informed Gen. Iftikhar that the flight was delayed. On this Gen. Iftikhar told him that the flight should not be diverted.

"I passed on the information to Yousuf Abbas who said that Gen. Iftikhar should better talk to Wing Commander Farooq, on phone No. 1612 as he (Farooq) was the final authority. I passed on this information to Gen. Iftikhar," the witness said.

Nadeem Akber said no aircraft could land or take off without permission of ATC.

He said that at about 18.45 hours, he overheard Asif asking Yousuf Abbas that PK-805 was requesting for permission to proceed to Nawabshah as it was burning its fuel fast. Yousuf Abbas then talked to someone on phone and informed the Tower Controller to give the message to Approach Controller that flight PK-805 was not cleared for Nawabshah as it was also closed for it and that PK-805 should proceed outside Pakistan. Asif conveyed the same message to Approach Controller Manzoor, the witness said.

APP adds: Nadeem Akber said at about 18.55 hours, Anwarul Huq, Flight Operation Officer told him to advise the airport controller that PK-805, be asked to climb to higher level in order to save fuel. Later, Yousuf Abbas talked to Wing Commander Farooq three to four times briefing him about the situation and seeking his advice.

"At about 1910 hours I heard Yousuf Abbas telling Asif that PK-805 was cleared to proceed to Nawabshah. This message was passed on to Approach Controller Manzoor. At about 1913 hours, Brig. Abdul Jabbar came in Control Tower alongwith some other army personnel. He asked Yusuf Abbas to bring the PK-805 back to Karachi. Yousuf Abbas conveyed the message to Approach Controller", the witness said.

"At about 1916 hours Gen. Iftikhar came in the Control Tower alongwith army officials. He told Yusuf Abbas that PK-805 should land at Karachi. Abbas informed him that the flight was already on its way to Karachi," Nadeem Akbar said.

He said after two or three minutes, the Approach Controller informed the Tower Controller that PK-805 on its own had changed its course and was turning towards north instead of coming to Karachi. Upon hearing this, Gen. Iftikhar got enraged and told Yousuf Abbas to tell the Capt. of PK-805 to contact Karachi ATC which would guide him to talk to Captain of PK-805 himself, he added.

He said Gen. Iftikhar took the microphone and told Capt. of PK-805 that he should come back and land at Karachi. The witness said the Captain of PK-805 told Gen. Iftikhar that the General in the plane wanted to speak to the Corps Commander. Then, Iftikhar talked to the General himself and explained the situation. After that Capt. PK-805 confirmed that he was coming to land at Karachi. At this point Yousuf Abbas CDO on Microphone guided PK-805 to land at Karachi.

The flight landed on the runway 25-R safely at 1948 approximately. It was parked on stand 64 on the instructions of Gen. Iftikhar. After that Army personnel left the Control Tower.

He said his statement was recorded by the police as well as the District Magistrate afterward.

Reuter adds: Another witness said he was not aware the plane's pilot had ever used a special code to alert air traffic controllers to a hijack.

Prosecution witness Syed Aqeel Ahmed, general manager of air traffic services for the Civil Aviation Authority, made the statement under cross examination.

Code 7500 is hijacking code. In my presence the pilot did not put on the Code 7500," Ahmed told the Court. Ahmed said he did not know if the pilot ever said "Code 7500" over the radio, or used emergency radio frequencies called "guard frequencies", after his plane was denied landing rights.

"Probably you don't know, Sir, but you are retired now and (General) Zia (Uddin) is in charge, but now we have taken over. The corp commander is with me and you can come back and land at Karachi," Akbar quoted Gen. Iftikhar Khan as telling Musharraf from the tower. Akbar said he heard Musharraf say "Thank you, Iftikhar.